My name is Rainbow Dash. I am here to tell you one story, and that is about my past. My childhood. I am here to tell you about the loneliness I felt, how the other foals teased me, because when I was a young filly, I couldn't fly. Listen close, because I will only tell you once.
When I was born, I wasn't Rainbow Dash. My name was Blizzard, because I was born on the night of one of the biggest snow storms in pony history. That wasn't all, though. My coat and mane were white as snow.
My mother told me that when I was young, I didn't cry, I didn't scream, I didn't do anything like the other foals in the hospital. The doctor called it autism, and said that I had a special disorder, where I would develop slower than other foals. He offered physical therapy for me when I got a little older, but my mother refused. She refused to believe that I was different.
The doctor was right. As I grew up, I was still in diapers while all the other foals were running and playing and going to school. My mother told me that I was special.
"You will always be my little Blizzard," she would say. And I believed her, up until the first day of preschool.
As my mother took me to the schoolhouse, she had to carry me because I couldn't fly. As I saw the other pegasus colts flying right along side with their mothers, and some without mothers at all. They were going to school on their own. I wished that I was that brave.
She set me down on the ground to play with the other foals, then went to talk with the teacher about my "condition".
I was very shy. All the other kids already had friends, but I knew no one. This was one of the few times I'd been let out of the house, my parents fearing that I would fall off the cloud to my doom. I stayed in one corner of the playground, shying away from anypony that came near me.
That was how I met her. A young filly a little older than me came over to my patch of cloud.
"Hey," she said. She had a group of friends around her, including a young blue colt, and a light blue filly with a white mane and tail. She tilted her head at them. "We need another player. You game?"
All I could do was nod my head in shock at her kindness. She was obviously popular, and she was talking to me?
"Great! My name's Spitfire, by the way," she looked at me with big, orange eyes. Her yellow coat gleamed like sunlight, with a plume of orange hair. I liked her immediately. "This here's Soarin," she said, indicating the blue colt, "and Fleetfoot."
"What's your name?" asked Soarin. I immediately shied away. I was still learning to talk, and I often fumbled on my words.
"B-Blizzard," I said slowly, grateful that I didn't fumble.
"Well, Blizzard, we're playing Wonderbolts. You're on my team." Fleetfoot smiled. She and the others took to the air, while I stayed firmly planted on the cloud.
"C'mon, Bliz!" called Spitfire, sounding annoyed. "To play Wonderbolts you gotta fly!"
I couldn't disappoint these ponies. They were my chance to be popular, to have friends. I couldn't let them down.
I buzzed my wings softly, and I felt my middle getting higher than my hooves. As they left the cloud, I squeezed one eye open. I hadn't even known that they were closed. I was flying!
I let lose my concentration for just a moment, but gravity took it. I tumbled to the ground ungratefully. As I shakily stood up, I heard laughter behind me.
"Oh, can the new pony not fly yet?" a young colt said. He and his buddies snickered like fools. Instead of stand up for myself, I shrank into my skin, as if it would hide me from the bullies.
"What's your name, Blizzard?" he snickered. "More like Blunder!" He burst into laughter again. I felt something warm and wet forming around my eyes.
I saw Spitfire, Soarin, and Fleetfoot land out of the corner of my eye, but they were blurred with the hot tears that were now streaming down my face. I felt a hoof on my shoulder, and I turned to see my mother looking down at me gently.
She picked me up by the scruff of my neck like I was a kitten, but I shook her off.
I ran. I didn't care where, or even if I pitched off a cloud and fell to my death. Anything was better than going back.
When I got to the edge of the cloud, I stopped, then buzzed my wings so fast it hurt. I felt myself leaving the ground, and tried to lower myself on a small cloud a few yards below me.
As I felt it below my hooves, I clutched it. It was like a soft pillow under me, and I cried into it. I heard somepony at the schoolhouse above me, but I wanted to be alone. I buzzed my wings, still clutching the cloud, and sped off a good fifty yards before coming to a stop.
After I couldn't cry any more, I marveled at my accomplishment. I could fly, no matter how weak. I was above the clouds, if only a few feet. I could fly.
After that horrid day, I researched all of the great pegasi flyers in my bed. I had to read slowly because of my condition, but I still read them. I refused to stop, even when my mother brought in food. I stayed up late at night, tracing the pictures with my hoof. I vowed that someday, I would be in the books. I would defy gravity in spectacular ways, and I would invent new moves to wow every pony, to prove them wrong.
I would do the impossible. I would take to the air. I would join the Wonderbolts.
One day, I was practicing my moves out in the snow. It had been almost a year after the first day of preschool, and I was flying like a pro. Or so I thought.
My mother was still very protective of me. She wouldn't let me go outside without supervision, even though I could fly to safety if I fell. But she wouldn't buy it. I was tired of being cooped up, and today she let me play in the soft, fluffy snow.
I zoomed around our house. My mother kept a close eye on me, because I was a weak flyer, and I couldn't be trusted.
At preschool, the other fillies and colts just left me alone, but they still whispered about me behind my back. I was the filly with the issues, and the filly with no friends, and the filly the wanted to join the Wonderbolts.
Beep, beep, beep, went the alarm on our food, so my mom sneaked one last glance at me before going inside to retrieve it. I kept flying, doing barrel rolls and flips and dives. I went out over the side of the clouds, just a little bit. What Mom didn't know wouldn't kill her, right?
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a yellow filly. Immediately I thought it was Spitfire. I had kept my distance from her ever since she saw I couldn't fly very well, and I flew as fast as I could to the ground and hid.
It wasn't Spitfire. I breathed a sigh of relief. It was a little filly with a meadow-yellow coat, and a light pink mane and tail. She was a blank flank, like me, and she seemed to be struggling in the air, like me.
My wings buzzed in excitement. Here was my chance to make a friend! I flew on up to her, but when I got there, I realized how dumb I had been. I still talked like a foal, and she was probably way better at talking than me. I cursed myself silently, when suddenly she turned.
"Oh!" she squeaked, and dropped like a stone for about a hundred feet. She flew back up, blushing. "Oh, you startled me," she nearly whispered.
"Hi," I said simply.
"What's your name?" she asked in her quiet voice.
"Blizzard." I sounded out each syllable, determined to get it right.
"I'm Fluttershy." Fluttershy smiled. "Ooh! My first friend!"
"Blizzard!" called my mother's worried voice. "What are you doing? Come back!"
Her voice was so full of fear, my heart cracked at my recklessness. I had really scared her.
Suddenly, I had an idea. I would really wow her with my moves! I had been practicing my masterpiece. I didn't know what to call it yet, but it was going to be big!
I zoomed as fast as I could past the house, and I saw my mother's eyes widen, but I didn't care. The adrenaline coursing through my veins made my wings flap faster, and the world to blur.
I had never gone this fast in my life. It was still pretty slow compared to what Spitfire could do, but for me, I was captain of the Wonderbolts already.
I did loops and turns, steadily accelerating. It was awesome.
Suddenly there was a flash of light behind me. I smiled when I realized that it was me who had caused it. It was a blazing sight.
I had a lightbulb moment in my head as soon as that thought passed through my brain. The Buccaneer Blaze. I smiled. I had the name to my signature move.
As I slowed down and flew back to my mother, I realized something was wrong. My mother was lying on the cloud, motionless. I walked up to her, trying to get her to wake up. She still lay there, and I yelled louder. There was no sign of the glowing, loving mother I saw just moments ago. When I felt her chest, I gasped.
It was still and cold.
I scrambled back from the body. While my mind refused to believe it, I knew in my heart that she was dead.
My father came out to see what was the matter. When he saw Mom's body, he sank to the ground.
"No!" he screamed to the sky. Then he sank into her cold coat and sobbed. I joined him.
My mother was dead.
"...and here is where they make the clouds!" said the dumb tour guide.
It had been a few months since the incident. When the doctors got there, they confirmed my father's suspicions; she had had a heart attack. Something had literally scared her to death.
I knew that I had killed her.
As the school field trip wore on, I slouched at the back of the crowd. We were touring the Weather Factory for like the millionth time. I had seen it all before. The only thing I was looking forward to was the rainbows. You had to be a certain age to go into the rainbow section, because there were no railings, blah blah blah. We were about to go into the rainbow section, and I was getting excited. When would they move on to the pools of color, already? The tour guide seemed very interested in how clouds were being made.
"So, the pegasi pour the water into these big machines over here, and they make the clouds that go into the sky!" she said with a huge fake smile.
Uh, where else did clouds go?
"Now, we'll move onto where rainbows are made!" she finally said, and I perked up a bit. Maybe this field trip wouldn't be so painfully boring after all.
"Here are the pools where the pegasi mix all of the colors that come from Rainbow Falls," the tour guide said.
"Ooh!" all the little fillies and colts gasped. I was unimpressed. They were just pools.
"Don't get too close, my little ponies," warned the guide. "Rainbow's aren't meant to swim in!"
I ignored her. Who cared if I got too close? Nopony cared about me anyway. I trailed behind as the group moved on. Then I moved in on the pools.
No one was working the pools. It was lunch time anyway. Probably a break. I guessed I had about one minute before they came back.
I crept to the edge of the rainbow pool, and touched it with my hoof. It was just like liquid. It kind of reminded me of the maple syrup I put on pancakes. Thick, yet still able to squeeze into the tiniest cracks of the pancake.
I scooted closer. The colors mesmerized me, bringing me into another world, one without all the pain, the sadness...
SPLASH! Suddenly I was surrounded by bright rainbow everywhere. I opened my mouth, but only liquid rainbow poured in. I shut it before I could inhale any more.
I must've scooted too close to the edge. Then I fell in, and now I was going to drown in rainbow. I wondered if that's what bugs thought as they were stuck in amber. Their last thought was Wow, that's beautiful, before being frozen forever.
Suddenly, I felt a strange tingling all over my body. Looking down, I saw that I was glowing. But that didn't matter right now.
My lungs ached. I needed air, but swimming in rainbow was like swimming in syrup. I didn't even know which way was up, much less how to swim. I panicked, thrashing in the syrup that was slowly suffocating me.
I felt something grab the scruff of my neck, and I was suddenly pulled out of the pool. I was blind for an instant as I blinked the rainbow out of my eyes, but I immediately regretted it. I was staring straight into the angry face of the tour guide.
"Hehe," I laughed half-heartedly, but I knew it was all over. I was roadkill.
"Young mare," she began. I hated how she dragged this whole conversation out, driving me crazy with suspense. "What in Equestria did you think you were doing?"
"I-I..." I started to cry. I couldn't help it. My mother's death, the horrible months after, and now the panic of the rainbow. What next? "I'm sorry," was all I could say. "I-I didn't mean to, I just wanted to see the rainbows more...I didn't think that I would fall-" I was cut off abruptly by my teacher's gasp of astonishment. Mrs. Windith looked at me like I had grown a unicorn horn or something. I tilted my head. "What?"
"Your speech!" she said. "It's normal!"
I was stunned. She was right! There was nothing wrong with my speech!
"I'd heard of rainbows having healing powers before, but this..." The tour guide was going into shock.
"Come on, dear, let's get you cleaned up," said Mrs. Windith gently, guiding me under her wing.
As we flew back to my house, Mrs. Windith left the rest of the class with the tour guide to continue the field trip.
When we got home, Dad looked surprised to see us. When he saw me covered in rainbow, he galloped to get a towel.
I sat in the entrance hall, pondering what had just happened. I'd fell into a rainbow, and now my problem was magically fixed.
I felt something soft on my shoulders. I turned to see Dad smiling down at me, draping a towel over my body. He leaned down and hugged me, and I hugged him back, getting him covered in rainbow in the process.
"Hey, I never did anything to you!" he said playfully, rubbing my head with the towel. Then he froze.
"What's wrong?" I asked. Nothing seemed wrong(besides my magical healing). He backed away, his magenta eyes full of fear. "What's wrong with me?" I demanded. He just shook his head.
"Not possible... not my Blizzard..." he muttered. I was getting scared now. First my mother had a heart attack, and now my father looked like he would as well.
"Daddy," I said slowly, as if scolding a young foal. "Tell me what's wrong."
He didn't answer. Instead, he ran to the bathroom. I didn't follow. He was in the bathroom after all. But soon he came out, with a small, flat object in his mouth.
It was a mirror. He showed me the reflection in the mirror, and I nearly fainted dead away.
This filly wasn't me. This filly had a cyan-face, with a messy mane flying in her face. And the mane... it wasn't my white mane. It was dyed rainbow, with every color. I imagined her tail was the same.
There was only one feature I recognized on her. Big, scared, magenta eyes staring back at me. My eyes.
This was not possible. I had been transformed from Blizzard into a new filly. No one would recognize me. It would be like a brand new start. A new life.
And then I fainted.
When I woke up, I was in my bed. For a moment, I thought everything was normal, and that I was going to another boring old day of school.
I did my daily routine, until I passed the giant mirror in Daddy's room. When I saw my new self, the memories came rushing back to me.
How long had I been out? An hour? A day? A week? I hadn't a clue.
I trotted slowly down to the kitchen, where my father was sitting, sipping coffee. He seemed in another world, distant. His eyes were foggy.
I cleared my throat. He snapped out of Memoryland, and gazed at me, like he didn't know who I was. If I suddenly saw this filly on the streets, I wouldn't, either.
"Hi, Dad," I said flatly. He didn't even notice my new speech. He was too busy looking at my coat.
"Oh, uh, hi, Blizzard." Dad blinked. He was really shocked by this.
"I'm sorry," I blurted out.
"For what?" He looked clueless about what was going on.
"If I hadn't gone too close to that pool, I wouldn't have fallen in, and then I wouldn't look like this, and you wouldn't be mad at me!" I cried.
"Oh, Blizzard," he chided, shaking his head. "Why in Equestria would I hate you?"
"Because I'm not Blizzard anymore." My shoulders shook as I sobbed. Why did he have to be so gentle?
"You will always be Blizzard, no matter what you look like." Daddy smiled warmly, then held out his forelegs in a gesture for hug time.
I accepted. As my body crashed into his, he stroked my new mane. It was still messy from the day before, but I didn't care. All I felt was my father's hooves against my wings.
Finally he pulled away. I was disappointed. We hadn't hugged like that since Mom's death.
"Now," he said. "time to go to school. You've got an exciting day ahead of you!"
He had an interesting definition of "exciting".
For the first half hour, I stayed in my corner. I didn't dare approach anypony, for fear of being interrogated about the previous day. I wouldn't even go close to Fluttershy, my best friend. Which was a fancy way of saying that she was my only friend.
Nopony seemed to recognize me. Everyone kept stealing glances at me, whispering Who's the new kid? It was all overwhelming.
Then a familiar yellow pegasus walked over.
"Hey, kid," said Spitfire. "You wanna play Wonderbolts with us?"
It was just like the first day of school. I shook my head, staring at the ground.
"Aw, come on," she urged, and it sounded pretty fun, but I kept saying no.
"Alright," she held up her hooves in surrender. "But you wanna hang out with us anyway?"
That was an offer I couldn't refuse. To hang out with the popular foals? Yes!
I smiled as I accepted. "Great!"
And I walked back to the schoolhouse with my new friends.
Mrs. Windith obviously recognized me, but she said nothing, nor called on me in class. I shot her a silent thank you right before lunch.
During recess, Spitfire, Soarin, and Fleetfoot were racing through the sky, going faster than I could ever dream. I watched them from the ground, afraid I would humiliate myself.
Until Spitfire trotted straight up to me and challenged me to a race. How could I say no? All the other fillies and colts were watching, waiting for me to crack under the pressure.
I would deny them their satisfaction. "Of course!" I puffed out my chest to look bigger. Spitfire raised an eyebrow.
"Ok, let's go!" she smiled, then shot up into the sky.
I shot up after her, faster than I expected. Spitfire raised her eyebrow even higher at my speed, and I grinned.
I zoomed around everyone, making a rainbow streak wherever I went.
"Ok, enough showing off," Spitfire stopped me with her shout. "Let's race!"
At the starting cloud, we revved up, buzzing wings. Soarin provided me with a pair of goggles. I slid them over my eyes as Fleetfoot flew to the announcer's cloud.
"Alright, fillies and gentlecolts, we have a big race coming up! It's the new challenger vs. the undefeated Spitfire!" she shouted.
The crowd roared in my ears, or it was my own blood. I wiped sweat off my brow as my wings buzzed at super-speed. This was my chance. I couldn't blow it.
"On your mark!"
Let's do this.
"Get set!"
Wait... undefeated?
"GO!"
No time to lose. In milliseconds I was off, but Spitfire was faster. She pulled ahead, leaving me in the dust. Not for long, I thought, and strained. Soon we were nose to nose, and the finish line was getting closer.
"It's Spitfire! Now it's newbie! Spitfire! Newbie!" Fleetfoot shouted the stats, which did not help my concentration.
Sweat beaded on my forehead. I had to win this. My social life depended on it.
That one thought stuck in me like a burning flame. I willed it brighter, until I was consumed with the desire to win.
I sped ahead. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Spitfire's astonished face now behind me.
I barely heard the roar of the crowd that had gathered to see the race as I crossed the finish line of the last lap. I did it. I won.
I zoomed above the crowd, my rainbow trail catching up to me as I raised my forelegs.
"What's your name, Newbie?" asked Spitfire, obviously with a new respect for me.
"Uh..." I couldn't just say Blizzard. Then she would know that it was me. No, new start, new name.
"My name is Rainbow Dash!" I shouted to the roaring crowd.
And that is how I became Rainbow Dash," I finished.
"Wow!" Scootaloo beamed at me. "That was a great story, Rainbow Dash!"
"Yeah... a story." I smiled down at her.
If only she knew.
